The group's absence norm and commitment to the group as predictors of group member absence in the next session: an actor-partner analysis

Abstract

The group's absence norm, a construct from the applied psychology literature, was used to examine session absences in personal growth groups. Rather than examining the absence norm statically, we modeled it dynamically as a time-varying covariate (Tasca et al., 2010). We also examined moderation by modeling the interaction of the absence norm and the group member's commitment to the group in predicting the group member's absence in the next group session. Session absences in 1,722 group sessions for 66 group members in 9 interpersonal growth groups were modeled using Kenny, Mannetti, Pierro, Livi, and Kashy's (2002) adaptation of the Actor-Partner Interdependence model. Specifically, a 3-level model (sessions within group members within groups) examined the relationship of the group's absence norm (average previous absences of the other group members), commitment to the group (previous absences of the group member), and the interaction of the group's absence norm and commitment to the group on absence in the next session. As we hypothesized, (a) a greater number of previous individual absences (low commitment) increased the probability of a member being absent the next session, (b) the higher the group's absences norm, the greater the probability that an individual group member would be absent the next session, and (c) individual group members who were more committed to the group were more influenced by the group's absences norm than were group members less committed to the group. Implications for research and practice are discussed.